FARA Foreign Agents Scraper

FARA Foreign Agents Scraper

Scrape FARA foreign agent filings from the DOJ public database, up to a million per run. Every filing comes with its registrant, foreign principal, dates, and document links. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The FARA eFile public database is the official record of foreign agents registered with the U.S. Department of Justice, but its web interface is slow to search and hard to export. This Actor reads the active filings directly, filters by foreign principal country, and returns each match in one fixed schema. Compliance teams, journalists, and researchers get a clean dataset instead of manual lookups.

Who uses it	What they scrape FARA for
Compliance officers	Monitor which foreign entities are registered to lobby in the U.S.
Investigative journalists	Trace foreign influence campaigns and their disclosed principals.
Academic researchers	Build datasets of foreign agent registrations over time.
Due diligence analysts	Check whether a counterparty appears in FARA filings.
Government affairs teams	Track competitor registrations and lobbying disclosures.

What it does

This Actor collects FARA active filings from the DOJ public database and returns each filing as a flat row with registrant, foreign principal, dates, and document links.

• 🌍 Country filter: narrow results to a specific foreign principal country, case-insensitive substring match.
• 📄 Document links: each filing includes URLs to the actual FARA documents on the DOJ site.
• 🔁 Incremental runs: set maxItems to control volume, from a single filing to the full active list.
• 📊 Flat schema: every filing is one row, ready for spreadsheets or databases.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with FARA data

🕵️ Investigate foreign influence.

A journalist runs the Actor with no country filter to get all active FARA filings, then filters the dataset for a specific registrant to map their disclosed foreign principals.

📋 Build a compliance watchlist.

A compliance officer runs the Actor weekly with country set to 'China' and exports the CSV to flag any new registrations for review.

📚 Create a research dataset.

An academic researcher runs the Actor with maxItems set to 1000000 to collect the full active filing list, then joins it with other lobbying data for analysis.

🔍 Screen a counterparty.

A due diligence analyst runs the Actor with no filter and searches the output for a company name to see if it appears as a foreign principal.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Official source	Data comes directly from the DOJ FARA eFile public database, not a third party.
No API key	No registration or OAuth, run the Actor and get results.
Export ready	CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML output for any downstream tool.
Scalable	Collect up to a million filings per run with a single input.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets FARA the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	FARA Foreign Agents Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When FARA changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with an optional foreign principal country filter and a maximum item count; the filter runs as filings are read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the FARA Foreign Agents Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to FARA through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/fara-foreign-agents-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your country filter. It is a case-insensitive substring match, so 'china' will match 'China' but 'PRC' will not. Try removing the filter to see all active filings.

The run is taking too long.

Lower maxItems to collect fewer filings per run. The DOJ site can be slow, so a smaller batch may finish faster.

Some filings are missing document links.

Not every filing has a document attached in the public database. The Actor returns whatever links the DOJ provides.

I get an error about the website.

The DOJ FARA site occasionally changes its layout or goes down for maintenance. Retry the run later, or contact support with the run ID.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is FARA?	FARA is the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a U.S. law requiring agents of foreign principals to register with the Department of Justice. The public database contains those registration filings.
Does this Actor scrape the entire FARA database?	It scrapes the active filings list from the DOJ FARA eFile public database. You can set maxItems to collect up to one million filings per run.
Can I filter by registrant name?	The current input schema only supports filtering by foreign principal country. You can filter the output dataset by registrant name after the run.
What data does each filing include?	Each row includes the registrant, foreign principal, filing dates, and links to the actual documents on the DOJ site. The exact fields are shown in the sample output.
Do I need a DOJ API key?	No. The Actor reads the public FARA eFile database directly, no registration or API key required.
How often is the FARA data updated?	The DOJ updates the active filings list regularly. Run the Actor on a schedule to keep your dataset current.
Can I export to Google Sheets?	The Actor exports to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML. You can import any of those into Google Sheets.
Is this Actor legal to use?	Yes. FARA filings are public records published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Scraping public data for legitimate purposes is generally allowed.
What is a foreign principal?	A foreign principal is the foreign government, political party, person, or organization on whose behalf a registered agent acts.
Can I get historical filings?	The Actor currently scrapes the active filings list. Historical or terminated filings are not included.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. Department of Justice. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.